“The devil disguises himself less than his followers do.”
“When you forgive your enemy, the wrong pains less.”
“The silver whisper is loudest in the idol’s ear.”
“The whole earth is a coffin; only for the living the lid is not yet hammered down.”
“A lie is like burying the dead in the snow; the secrecy doesn’t last long.”
“The brows of the saints prop the pillars of heaven.”
Says a northern pessimist: “Oh! the hypocrisy of religion; sacrifice a bullock once a year, and steal bullocks all the rest of the year.”
The supercilious man threw this sarcastic shaft at his accoster: “I pick my company.” The mission school man heaped coals of fire on his head with this bland reply: “And your company is proud to pick you.”
The Chinese love to contrast life and death, as is shown in their paintings of pear trees in bloom and willows in bud, while snow lies on mountain peak and hillside.
The Americans at home have established a beautiful custom of casting wreaths into the sea on Decoration Day in commemoration of the dead who were buried or lost at sea, and there is a similar custom at Venice and elsewhere. The Chinese, too, have a Decoration or All Souls’ Day, which is observed by the adherents of the three religions in the first week of September. Red boats and lanterns are set afloat, and the priests burn paper clothing, money and food, and set off firecrackers. Where the ceremony takes place on land, it is customary to throw copper money to the street gamins. The festival is also observed at the magisterial yamens and temples, and Wing Lok Street, Hongkong, is noted for the characteristic observance of the ceremony. The rise of republicanism is going to strike a hard blow at one of the main teachings of Confucianism, “serving the prince,” because there will be no prince to serve and also at “li,” the rule of blind obedience to those in power; following the trade of the parent; destroying children; self-disfigurement; concubinage; expensive funerals and priest-craft; abuse of women; blind worship of the past; suicide of purchased wives; exaggeration of man and minimizing of God; neglect of organized charities and of science and comparative history. This change will make the introduction of Christianity more hopeful. It is to be expected that the worship of ancestors will also weaken, and with it will weaken the custom of early marriages. The Chinese have too many children to educate properly, as the Americans and French have probably too few. A somewhat smaller China would mean a richer and better China.